CBC List of 150 books to read for Canada 150

It would have been nice if they had this ready to go at the beginning of this year instead of almost 7 months into the Sesquicentennial but it is a pretty good list:
http://www.cbc.ca/books/the-great-canadian-reading-list-150-books-to-read-for-ca...

Like all lists it is missing some that should be there and has some I don't agree with (Cockroach anyone?) but it's given me some books that I really want to read. So I have read 74 books on this list. How many have you read? Any you disagree with?

Thanks for posting this. I've read 54 (or so) from this list with a few that I've got on my radar for next month.

Just browsing, there are lots of good books! It's harder to notice what isn't there but Random Passage by Bernice Morgan and no Lori Lansens' books?

Re: Cickroach. I loved his DeNiro's Game but not so much Cockroach. However, watching Sam Bee defend it so passionately in Canada Reads raised it up a bit for me.

I've read 23 (including Two Solitudes, which I just finished yesterday!) and have 6 on my to-read list, although there are others I probably wouldn't mind checking out. Thanks for posting this!

>2 raidergirl3: I guess I just don't click with Rawi Hage. I didn't even like DeNiro's Game and I couldn't make it through Cockroach at all. As to what's missing there is very little genre adult fiction. We have some fantastic sf and mystery writers but the only mystery I saw is A Great Reckoning and there were only three sf books. I also thought that if they had to have three books by Atwood they could have left The Edible Woman off and chosen one of her newer works like Oryx and Crake.

>3 rabbitprincess: You're welcome. There are lots of great books to go for.

Hmm, 60 read so far. Not bad but I have some catching up to do. Oddly enough, I just finished Whylah Falls today.

>5 Yells: 60 is very good. I read Whylah Falls quite a few years ago, probably when it was one of the contenders on Canada Reads. I don't remember too much about it but I thought it was beautifully written.

I've read 1/2 -- 75 of them. Some don't interest me, but I think I'll check some others out.

I would add Random Passage by Bernice Morgan to the list. And Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay.

>7 LynnB: You're the second person to mention Random Passage. It's a favourite of mine as well. I also thought there should be something by Frances Itani on the list, maybe Deafening.

my favourite Frances Itani book is, I think, her first: Leaning, Leaning Over Water

Mine was Remembering the Bones.

>9 LynnB:
>10 Yells:
I've read both of those and liked them too. I also liked her most recent book, Tell, which is set in the same region as Deafening and just after WWI. I see from the Harper Collins website that she has another book due out which is also set in the same area. I just went to my library's website to put a hold on That's My Baby (which doesn't have a touchstone yet).

I've read approx. 30 of them. I'm surprised The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz wasn't there. I was really glad to see Gordon Korman. He was one of the best parts of my childhood and usually omitted from such lists, I think. As for Atwood, my favourite of hers (among those I've read) was The Blind Assassin. Another underrated favourite of mine that isn't on the list is Morley Torgov's Outside Chance of Maximilian Glick.

It will be a good list to refer to and read from.

Late to the game here . . . I've only read 37, and only that many because I've probably read all the children's books on the list. I was especially pleased to see Mabel Murple because that was a huge hit with my family, but no one else on the planet seems to know it. But then they included Love You Forever, which is a disturbing and just horrible book in every single way.

As for the adult books, so many of the ones I read I wasn't fond of, but definitely agree with Lullabies For Little Criminals, A Complicated Kindness, Anil's Ghost and Kiss of the Fur Queen. And I liked Cockroach a lot.

Based on all the "ughs" this list got out of me, I won't be hunting down anything. But it's fun to look at.

>13 Nickelini: I’ve loved Mabel Murple ever since I saw Sheree Fitch read it to an elementary class. In fact, I can only hear it in my head with Sheree’s voice. I’d add Monkeys in My Kitchen if we need another Fitch.

>14 raidergirl3: Another fan! I know it in her voice too because we had the audio book of it on a road trip through the Western US. The best way to hear it is in her voice (over and over and over again)

>16 frahealee: All of Wagamese's books have been great. Another one has just been published but it is unfinished since he died before he could finish it. I still want to read Starlight though. I also think all of Boyden's books have been great and even though he is in disgrace for possibly lying about his aboriginal heritage I am not one who thinks that only aboriginals can write well about their stories (just like women can write great books about men's experiences and vice versa and an oriental person can write about Western perspectives). I watched the PBS Kickoff to the Great American Read and a piece of advice from Diana Gabaldon seems pertinent--she said the saying that you should write what you know is all wrong because then all that would be written is autobiographies and that would be boring.
I am a big Robertson Davies fan and High Spirits is amazing.
A Fine Balance is an absolutely fantastic book so keep it near the top of the pile.
Before I read Alias Grace The Blind Assassin was my favourite book of Atwood's but now I would probably put Hag-Seed at the very top followed by Alias Grace and then by the Oryx and Crake series and then by The Blind Assassin but they are all terrific.
No Great Mischief is a book I have read several times and I may go back to it in the future. It is the perfect immigrant story.

Just thought I would throw my two cents in. You might also want to take a look at the lists CBC did of 100 Novels, 100 True Stories and 100 Young Adult books That Make you Proud to be Canadian. I'm still referring to them.

>16 frahealee: We all love the chance to talk about the books we love.

Unless and A Fine Balance are amongst my most favourite reads. Don't be put off by Richler - Duddy Kravitz and Barney are great romps, lots of fun and great characters.

Alistair and his son Alexander MacLeod are both wonderful writers. I’ve read most of their offerings and have never been disappointed. Light Lifting is a solid set of short stories.

We’ve already compared our Laurence reads - I just have The Diviners left.

A few other great Canadian authors to look into - Lori Lansens, Mary Lawson, Bernice Morgan, and Donna Morrissey.

Well...I have read from that list...a grand total of...4.

It's kind of worse when you consider that three of said five are Munsch, because I grew up in Canada I'm not sure it's possible to not encounter him.

The other two would be Darkest Dark just this year, and Life of Pi which I was honestly not as impressed with as I was expecting, but I think that perhaps has to do with the circumstances behind my reading.

I've read works by several of the authors on that list, just not specifically those books. Shields, Atwood, Mistry, Purdy, Korman, Mowat...almost all for school or outside projects rather than because I wanted to. I only realized I had even read a Mowat book when I bumped into a description I happened to recognize. Four books from that list are on my TBR, some of which are simply school leftovers. It seems I have something of a lack of interest (or knowledge) of Canadian literature. Shame on me! In fact apart from Munsch, the person I'm most familiar with on that list would be Bif Naked. ;)

Leafing through though, I admit I'm curious now about Not Wanted on the Voyage, and I've been looking at Shake Hands with the Devil for years, thinking about reading one day.